Recording medium for storing defect management information of recording real time data, defect managing method therefor, and real time data recording method

ABSTRACT

A recording medium for storing defect management information to record real time data, a defect managing method therefor, and a method of recording real time data. The recording medium stores information representing use or non-use of linear replacement defect management in which a defective area on the recording medium is replaced with the spare area, in order to record real time data. While maintaining compatibility between the defect managing method and a defect managing method based on a current DVD-RAM standard, i.e., while allowing a report of the fact that there are blocks which have not been linearly replaced, linear replacement is not performed when real time data is recorded. Thus, real time data can be recorded and reproduced.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a Divisional Application of application Ser.No. 09/294,344 filed Apr. 20, 1999, now pending. This application alsoclaims the benefit of Korean Application Nos. 98-14059, filed Apr. 20,1998; 98-23913, filed Jun. 24, 1998; 98-29733, filed Jul. 23, 1998;98-34880, filed Aug. 27, 1998; and 98-35847, filed Sep. 1, 1998, in theKorean Patent Office, the disclosures of which were filed in applicationSer. No. 09/294,344 and incorporated herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to the field of managing a disk andits defects, and more particularly, to a recording medium for storingdefect management information with respect to whether linear replacementis used, a method of effectively managing defects to record and/orreproduce video and/or audio data from a digital versatile disc randomaccess memory (DVD-RAM) in real time, and a method of recording data inreal time using defect management information.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] Real time recording or reproduction means that a given amount ofdata is necessarily recorded or reproduced within a given time sinceinput information is lost if it is not processed at the moment data isinput, and since a phenomenon such as a pause of an image or temporaryinterruption of music occurs with reproduction of data as abnormalinformation if data is not recorded or reproduced at a predeterminedspeed. The above-described problems are caused since the input ofinformation cannot be temporally controlled by a recording andreproducing apparatus.

[0006] In the DVD-RAM standard version 1.0, a method of managing defectsgenerated on a disk has been disclosed to increase the reliability ofdata recorded on the disk. Slipping replacement and linear replacementare included as the disclosed defect management methods: the firstmethod processes defects detected in an initializing process; and thesecond method replaces an error correction code (ECC) block unit(16-sector unit) including a sector having a defect generated during useof the disc with a defect-free ECC block in a spare area.

[0007] The slipping replacement is used to minimize a reduction in therecording or reproduction speed due to defects, in which a logicalsector number to be provided to a defective sector is provided to asector next to the defective sector detected during a certificationprocess for investigating defects of a disc when the disc isinitialized, that is, data is recorded or reproduced by slipping asector on which a defect is generated during recording or reproduction.Here, a real physical sector number is pushed back by the sector numberdesignated by slipping the defective sector. Such a left-behindphenomenon is solved by using as many sectors as there are defects in aspare area located at the end portion of a corresponding user data area.

[0008] However, the slipping replacement cannot be used for a defectgenerated while a disc is used. When a defective portion is disregardedand skipped, discontinuity is generated on logical sector numbering,which means that the slipping replacement violates file system rules.Thus, the linear replacement is used when a defect is generated duringuse of the disc, which means the replacement of an ECC block including adefective sector with an ECC block existing in a spare area.

[0009] When the linear replacement is used, no vacuum exists in alogical sector number, however, the position of a sector on a disc isdiscontinuous, and real data corresponding to a defective ECC blockexists in the spare area.

[0010] As described above, when real time recording, in which the timefor temporarily-input information cannot be arbitrarily delayed, suchas, recording of broadcast information or a real image, is necessary,information is recorded in an area to be linearly-replaced by undergoinga process in which a pickup goes up to the spare area and searches foran area to be linearly replaced, and a process in which the pickup comesback. Hence, the recording speed is reduced, so that information inputin real time cannot be continuously recorded when the linear replacementis used.

[0011] It is prescribed that a DVD-RAM drive according to the DVD-RAMstandard version 1.0 processes all of this defect management to reducethe burden of the host computer used in the drive. The host computer isdesigned to transmit a command ordered not to manage defects to thedrive using a command denoted in an interface standard. That is, if thehost computer determines whether defect management will be performed,the defect management itself is supposed to be performed by the drive.

[0012] Even when the host computer does not manage defects according tothe need of an application program, the DVD-RAM disc according to theDVD-RAM standard version 1.0 must necessarily manage defects recorded ina primary defect list (PDL) and a secondary defect list (SDL) accordingto a defect management rule if an area slippingly replaced or linearlyreplaced due to defect management performed by another drive exists.Here, it is prescribed that the position of a defective sector replacedaccording to slipping replacement should be recorded in the PDL, and theposition of a defective block replaced according to linear replacementshould be recorded in the SDL. That is, when data is recorded aftersetting the fact that a specific drive should not perform defectmanagement using the linear replacement, it cannot be ensured that otherdrives must also not perform the linear replacement on the same disc.

[0013] Therefore, when real time recording is performed by a currentDVD-RAM disc, it may be difficult because of an area to be used by thelinear replacement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0014] To solve the above problems, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide a recording medium for storing defect managementinformation associated with whether linear replacement is used or not,to record real time data.

[0015] It is another object of the present invention to provide arecording medium for storing information for showing a plurality ofdifferent defect management modes according to the type of data to berecorded.

[0016] It is still another object of the present invention to provide arecording medium for allocating a spare area for only real timerecording whose space can be effectively utilized.

[0017] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide amethod of managing a defect of a recording medium which can record realtime data and can have maximum compatibility with a general DVD-RAMdisc.

[0018] It is still yet another object of the present invention toprovide a method of recording real time data using the defect managementinformation associated with whether the linear replacement is used.

[0019] Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be setforth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will beobvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of theinvention.

[0020] Accordingly, to achieve the above and other objects of thepresent invention, there is provided a recording medium including a userdata area, a spare area and a control information area, wherein thecontrol information area stores information representing use or non-useof linear replacement defect management in which a defective area on therecording medium is replaced with the spare area.

[0021] To further achieve the above and other objects of the presentinvention, there is provided a recording medium for storing defectmanagement mode information for showing a plurality of defect managementmodes representing use or non-use of linear replacement according to thetype of data to be recorded.

[0022] To still further achieve the above and other objects of thepresent invention, there is provided a recording medium for storinginformation representing non-application of linear replacement to alldata to be recorded in a user data area on the recording medium in adefect management area, in which only a spare area for slippingreplacement is allocated.

[0023] To still yet further achieve the above and other objects of thepresent invention, there is provided a defect managing method accordingto the present invention for a disc recording and/or reproducingapparatus comprising the steps of: (a) recording informationrepresenting use or non-use of linear replacement defect management withrespect to the entire disc or a specific area of the disc; and (b)determining whether a defective area of the disc will be replaced by ablock in a spare area of the disc using linear replacement according toinformation representing use or non-use of the linear replacement defectmanagement.

[0024] To still yet further achieve the above and other objects of thepresent invention, there is provided a method of recording real timedata while managing a defect on a disc using a disc recording and/orreproducing apparatus, the method comprising the steps of: (a)determining whether defect management mode information representingwhether defect management based on linear replacement is to be used; (b)determining whether data to be recorded is real time data, when thedefect management mode information is information that the linearreplacement is not to be used; (c) determining whether alinearly-replaced detect exists in an area to record data in, when thedata to be recorded is real time data; and (d) determining whether a newdefect is detected in the area to record data in, when nolinearly-replaced defect exists in the area to record data in, andrecording the real time data in a desired area when the new defect isnot detected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The above objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodimentsthereof with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

[0026]FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a defect management method usingslipping replacement of a recording medium;

[0027]FIG. 2 is a view for explaining a defect management method usinglinear replacement of a recording medium;

[0028]FIG. 3 is a table of a defect definition structure (DDS);

[0029]FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate the structures of a disc certificationflag and a group certification flag shown in FIG. 3, respectively;

[0030]FIG. 5 is a table of the contents of a secondary defect list(SDL);

[0031]FIG. 6 illustrates the structure of the spare area full flag shownin FIG. 5;

[0032]FIG. 7 illustrates the structure of the SDL entry shown in FIG. 5;

[0033]FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate the structures of the disccertification flag and the group certification flag of the DDS forrecording real time data proposed by the present invention,respectively;

[0034]FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of recording dataaccording to a defect management method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

[0035]FIG. 10 illustrates an example of the structure of an improved SDLentry for canceling linear replacement proposed by the presentinvention;

[0036]FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a DDS for storing informationfor indicating a plurality of different defect management modes proposedby the present invention;

[0037]FIG. 12 is a table showing allocated spare areas for recordingreal time data proposed by the present invention; and

[0038]FIG. 13 illustrates a DDS and the structure of a primary defectlist (PDL) for storing defect management mode information proposed bythe present invention for allocating spare areas for only real timerecording shown in FIG. 12.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0039] Preferred embodiments of a recording medium storing defectmanagement information for recording real time data, a defect managingmethod using the same, and a real time data recording method will now bedescribed with reference to the attached drawings. Like referencenumerals refer to like elements throughout.

[0040] First, slipping replacement and linear replacement will bedescribed in detail referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 in order to help in theunderstanding of the present invention.

[0041]FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a defect management method usingthe slipping replacement. Physical addresses on a disc shown in FIG. 1are recorded as P1, P2, P3, . . . , Pn, and logical addresses L1, L2, L3. . . must be provided to record real data in these physically-segmentedsectors. These logical addresses act as addresses allowing a real filesystem to search for its own data. However, the relationship between thephysical addresses and the logical addresses is made in a discinitialization process. If a defect is detected on the third physicalsector P3 as shown in FIG. 1, a logical address is not designated tothis defective sector, and a logical sector number L3 is designated tothe next physical sector P4. Then, the logical sectors are sequentiallypushed back by the number of defective sectors, and a spare area locatedat the end of a corresponding data group is used by the pushed portion.In this slipping replacement method, effective processing in sectorunits is possible by simply slipping a defective region, and a pickupdoes not need to move to a different place upon recording andreproduction by simply disregarding and skipping a defective portion.Thus, the defective region can be avoided while minimizing the delaytime. Here, the position of a defective sector replaced by the slippingreplacement is recorded in the PDL.

[0042]FIG. 2 is a view for explaining a defect management method usinglinear replacement. In the linear replacement for processing defectsgenerated while a disc is used after being initialized, the defects aremanaged in an ECC block unit, i.e., in units of 16 sectors. In otherwords, when an error is generated at a specific sector and a defect isthus detected, if the movement in units of at least 16 sectors is notmade for error correction, the error correction unit of each datapreviously recorded in a disc must be changed. Thus, processing in anECC block unit must be performed, and the slipping replacement method ofslipping a defective sector and designating a logical sector cannot beused since the logical address of an area where data has already beenrecorded cannot be changed. When a defect is generated in a logicalblock LB3 as shown in FIG. 2, the defective region is recorded in theSDL to be prevented from being used, and the defective portion isreplaced with a usable block existing in a spare area. The replacedblock (SBk in FIG. 2) in the spare area has the same logical blocknumber (LB3) as the erroneous block.

[0043] In a reproduction sequence, as shown in FIG. 2, reading iscontinued just before a defective block in an area 1, a replaced ECCblock existing in the spare area is read by moving a pickup or the liketo an area 2, and data is continuously read from a block right next tothe defective block in an area 3. In order to process defects asdescribed above, a pickup performs the process for searching for dataand a process for returning to the block right next to the defectiveblock after reading the replaced block. Thus, much time is required toread or write data, so that this defect management is not appropriatefor real time recording.

[0044] In the present invention, a disc (recording medium) includes acontrol information area for storing general information (which includesa defect management area (DMA) for storing defect managementinformation) and a user area for writing/rewriting user data. The userarea includes a user data area and a spare area, and the controlinformation area includes a lead-in area or a lead-out area. The DMAincludes a disc definition structure (DDS), a primary defect list (PDL)and a secondary defect list (SDL).

[0045]FIG. 3 is a table of the disc definition structure (DDS) existingin the defect management area (DMA) of a DVD-RAM, which is in thelead-in area or the lead-out area of the control information area. Inparticular, a byte position (BP) 3, a disc certification flag, recordsthe certified contents of the entire disc, and BPs 16 through 39, groupcertification flags, record the contents of certification of 24 datagroups.

[0046] In addition, BPs 0 and 1 are DDS identifiers, and BPs 4 through 7are the values of counters for updating DDS/PDL representing the totalnumber of times in which a DDS/PDL block is updated and rewritten. Thatis, when initialization starts, the value of a counter is set to be “0”,and increases by one whenever the DDS/PDL is updated or rewritten. AllDDS/PDL and SDL blocks must have the same counter value after formattingis completed. BPs 8 and 9 denote the number of groups, and, for example,24 groups are recorded as “0018” (hexadecimal).

[0047]FIG. 4A illustrates the structure of the disc certification flagshown in FIG. 3. When a bit b7 among three bits b7, b6 and b5representing an in-process state is “0b”, it indicates formatcompletion, and when the bit b7 is “1b”, it indicates an under-formationstate. When the bit b6 is “0b”, it indicates the progress of formattingusing full certification, and when the bit b6 is “1b”, it indicates theprogress of formatting using partial certification. When the bit b5 is“0b”, it indicates the progress of formatting on the entire disc, andwhen the bit b5 is “1b”, it indicates the progress of formatting on onlygroups, and indicates that the group certification flag is effective.When a bit b1 representing user certification is “0b”, it indicates thata disc has never been certified by a user, and when the bit b1 is “1b”,it indicates that a disc has been certified one or more times by a user.When a bit b0 representing disc manufacturer certification is “0b”, itindicates that a disc has never been certified by a manufacturer, andwhen the bit 0 is “1b”, it indicates that the disc has been certifiedone or more times by the manufacturer. Other bits b4, b3, and b2 arereserved. However, “in-process” is set to be “1” by any certificationbefore formatting, (where the symbol “x” means a ‘don't care bit,’ i.e.,“1” or “0” and when formatting is completed, the “in-process” is resetto be “000”.

[0048]FIG. 4B illustrates the structure of each of the groupcertification flags of the bit positions 16 through 39 shown in FIG. 3.When a bit b7 among two bits b7 and b6 representing an in-process stateis “0b”, it indicates format completion of a corresponding group, andwhen the bit b7 is “1b”, it indicates that the corresponding group isbeing formatted. When the bit b6 is “0b”, it indicates that the group isbeing formatted using full certification, and when the bit b6 is “1b”,it indicates that the group is being formatted using partialcertification. When a bit b1 representing user certification is “0b”, itindicates that the group has never been certified by a user, and whenthe bit b1 is “1b”, it indicates that the group has been certified oneor more times by a user. Other bits b5, b4, b3, b2, and b0 are reserved.

[0049]FIG. 5 is a table showing the contents of a secondary defect list(SDL). BP is the position of a relative byte starting with 0. Relativebyte positions 0 and 1 are SDL identifiers, and relative byte positions2 and 3 are reserved. Relative byte positions 4 through 7 denote thetotal number of updated SDL blocks, and the SDL updating counter valueincreases by one whenever the content of SDL is updated. Relative bytepositions 8 through 15 denote spare area full flags, and relative bytepositions 16 through 19 denote DDS/PDL updating counter values eachindicating the total number of times the DDS/PDL block is updated andrewritten. The counter value is set to be “0” when initializationstarts, and increases by 1 whenever the DDS/PLD is updated or rewritten.As mentioned above, all the DDS/PDL and SDL blocks must have the samecount value after formatting is finished. Relative byte positions 20 and21 are reserved, and relative byte positions 22 and 23 indicate thenumber of entries in the SDL. The remaining relative byte positionsindicate each SDL entry.

[0050]FIG. 6 illustrates the structure of the spare area full flag ofthe relative byte positions 8 through 15 shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 6, ifa bit representing a corresponding group is “1”, it indicates that nospare blocks are left in the corresponding group, and if the bit is “0”,it indicates that a spare block remains in the corresponding group.

[0051]FIG. 7 illustrates the structure of the SDL entry shown in FIG. 5.In FIG. 7, FRM (Forced Re-Assignment Marking) is a bit representingwhether a defective block has been replaced. When the defective blockhas been replaced, FRM records a binary “0”, and when the deflectiveblock has not been replaced or no spare areas exist, FRM records abinary “1”. The SDL entry includes the sector number of the first sectorof a defective block, and the sector number of the first sector of areplacement block. Here, if the defective block has not been replaced, ahexadecimal “000000” is record in an area where the first sector numberof the replacement block is recorded.

[0052] Meanwhile, in real time recording, whether corresponding data canbe processed within a given time becomes more important than some errorsof real data. In particular, in the case of an image or the like, anerror is generated to part of a screen when a small error exists in theimage. On the other hand, when input data cannot be processed in time,continuous data error is generated to make normal reproductionimpossible. Therefore, the processing of data in time is more important.

[0053] Thus, as for the real time recording, a method allowing fornon-use of the linear replacement must be suggested. When the linearreplacement is not used, there must be a portion recording the fact thata corresponding disc is in use without using the linear replacement. Amethod of recording such a content will be described referring to FIGS.8A and 8B.

[0054]FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate the structures of the disccertification flag and the group certification flag of the DDS proposedby the present invention to record real time data, respectively. Thestructures of the disc certification flag and the group certificationflag of FIGS. 8A and 8B are the same as those of FIGS. 4A and 4B exceptfor a bit position b2. That is, as shown in FIG. 8A, when the entirecorresponding disc is used without the linear replacement, the bitposition b2 of the disc certification flag is set as “1”, and when thecorresponding disc is used by the linear replacement as in the priorart, the bit position b2 is set as “0”. In FIGS. 8A and 8B, informationassociated with use or non-use of the linear replacement stored in thebit position b2 is called a disc defect management mode.

[0055] Also, when only specific groups are partially initialized toprevent the linear replacement, as shown in FIG. 8B, the bit position b2of the group certification flag for a corresponding group is set as “1”to indicate that linear replacement is not performed on a data region inthe corresponding group. In an embodiment of the present invention, thebit positions b2 of the disc certification flag and the groupcertification flag are used as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, but anotherreserved bit can be used. Here, each existing b2 region is reserved, andits value is recorded as “0”.

[0056] When the bit b2 for a disc defect management mode of the disccertification flag or group certification flag is set as “1” uponinitialization of a disc, the SDL records only the start sector addressof a block having a defect generated during use of the disc, records anFRM bit of the SDL entry as “1”, and the linear replacement is notperformed. A hexadecimal “000000” is recorded in an area for recordingthe first sector number of a replacement block of the SDL entry.

[0057] In this way, while compatibility between a defect managing methodbased on a current DVD-RAM standard and a method of the presentinvention is maintained, i.e., while a method capable of indicating theexistence of non-linearly-replaced blocks as in an existing defectmanaging method is suggested, a method allowing a defective block not tobe linearly replaced is also provided to thereby accomplish recordingand reproduction of real time data.

[0058] A determination of whether a defective region will be replaced bya block existing in a spare area using linear replacement is made byinformation associated with use or non-use of linear replacement defectmanagement recorded in a defect management region on the entire disc orin a specific area of the disc regardless of the type of data to berecorded in a corresponding area.

[0059] Also, a determination of whether a defective region will bereplaced by a block existing in a spare area using the linearreplacement is made by information associated with use or non-use oflinear replacement defect management recorded in a defect managementregion on the entire disc or in a specific area on the disc in the caseof only data required to be recorded in real time.

[0060] A method of preventing linear replacement with respect to theentire disc or specific groups of the disc was described on the basis ofthe above-described embodiment. In another embodiment, when a discdefect management mode is set as “1”, it can be used as information thatthe linear replacement is not performed with respect to a block having adefect in an area of a disc for recording information requiring realtime recording and reproduction, but the linear replacement can beperformed with respect to an area of a disc not requiring real timerecording. In this case, when data not requiring real time recording hasalready been recorded in an area in which real time data must berecorded, and a defective region is thus linearly replaced, the linearreplacement of the defective region must be capable of being canceled.Therefore, when the disc defect management mode is set as “1”, this canmean that the linear replacement of the defect can be canceled when realtime information is recorded.

[0061] In order to prevent entire linear replacement with respect to theentire disc or a given group on the disc, information associated withthe disc defect management mode is set as “1” upon initialization. Onthe other hand, when linear replacement is not performed only in thecase of recording real time data, there is no need to set the defectmanagement mode information upon initialization. That is, when it isdetermined that there is a necessity for recording real time data in adisc, the disc defect management mode is set as “1” just before the realtime data is recorded. At this time, a determination of whether a discis suitable for recording real time data is made on the basis of theamount or distribution of a defect generated on the disc. When it isdetermined that the disc is suitable, the disc defect management mode isset as “1”. Otherwise, a process for informing a user that the disc isnot suitable for recording real time data is required.

[0062]FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of recording data inreal time without performing defect management using linear replacementwith respect to only data desired to be recorded when the disc defectmanagement mode is “1”.

[0063] In FIG. 9, first, a determination of whether a disc defectmanagement mode is “1” is set before recording of data on a disc begins,in step S101. If the disc defect management mode is “1”, it isdetermined whether data to be recorded is real time data, in step S103.If the defect management mode is “0”, every data is recorded on thebasis of a general defect managing method defined in the standard bookversion 1.0, in steps S102 and S108. When it is determined in step S103that data to be recorded is not real time data, step S102 of performinggeneral defect management is performed. When it is determined in stepS103 that data to be recorded is real time data, it is determinedwhether an already-linearly-replaced defect exists in an area where datais to be recorded, in step S104.

[0064] When it is determined in step S104 that the linearly-replaceddefect exists in the area to record data in, the linearly-replaceddefect is canceled, in step S105. When no linearly-replaced defectexists in the area to record data in, it is determined whether anewly-detected defect exists in the area to record data in, in stepS106.

[0065] When it is determined in step S106 that a new defect is detected,information representing that a defect has not been linearly replaced isrecorded in a secondary defect list (SDL) of a defect management area,in step S107. Next, data is recorded in a desired area in step S108.Also, when a new defect is not detected in step S106, step S108 ofrecording real time data in a desired region is performed.

[0066] Step S105 of canceling a linearly-replaced defect, and step S107of recording information representing that a defect has not beenlinearly replaced are performed by recording the first sector number ofa replacement block as a hexadecimal “000000”, among linearly-replaceddefect information recorded in the SDL, and by recording the FRMinformation as “1”. In this case, since the disc defect management modeis set as “1”, it can be recognized from the comparison of this modeinformation with FRM information that the meaning of the FRM informationbecomes different from that of existing FRM information.

[0067] That is, the FRM information based on the existing standarddenotes that a block having a defect generated for a certain reason hasnot been replaced with a block in a spare area or no spare areas can bereplaced. On the other hand, FRM information based on a new definitionis added to the meaning of the existing FRM and can be informationrepresenting that when the disc defect management mode is “1”, thelinear replacement of a defective block replaced by an existing linearreplacement method has been canceled for real time recording, or thedefective block has not been linearly replaced for real time recording.

[0068] Since a disc whose defect management mode is set as “1” is likelyto include real time information, the disc can be utilized asinformation of prohibiting reallocation of information on a disc withoutconsideration of real time information. Piece collection of collectingthe pieces of a file on a disc, and read after reallocation can beincluded as a method of reallocating the information on a disc. The readafter allocation is a method of reading data and then replacing a datablock likely to have a defect with a block located in a spare area.

[0069]FIG. 10 illustrates the structure of an improved SDL entry forcanceling linear replacement proposed by the present invention. When analready-replaced defect exists on a disc upon recording of real timedata, a method of recording the information of an area, in which thefirst sector number of the replacement block as described above isrecorded, as a hexadecimal “000000” and setting an FRM bit as “1” isexemplified as a process for canceling the linear replacement.

[0070] This method can minimize the change in the existing standard.However, in this method, the information of a block which is determinedas defective and replaced must be deleted, so that linear replacementmay be arbitrarily performed, canceled, and again performed withoutsequentially using a spare area. In particular, when a linearly-replacedblock in the spare area is defective and again replaced, informationassociated with the linearly-replaced defective block in the spare areais lost.

[0071] Thus, it would be preferable that blocks in a corresponding sparearea are sequentially used when linear replacement occurs, and that evenwhen the linear replacement is canceled, information associated with ablock in the spare area replacing a corresponding defect block ismaintained. When only a region recording an FRM bit and the first sectornumber of a replacement block is used to maintain information associatedwith the replaced sector number of the spare area, it is not possible totell if the corresponding replaced block has again been replaced onaccount of a defect or if the linear replacement has been canceled torecord real time data.

[0072] In order to solve such a problem, a canceled linear replacement(CLR) flag is newly defined by using a spare bit of the SDL entry whichis not in use. When linear replacement with respect to a correspondingSDL entry is canceled for recording real time data, a method of settingthe CLR flag as “1” can be used. Here, when the CLR flag is set as “0”,it indicates a replacement block allocated without being used by realtime data. In the structure of an SDL entry of FIG. 10, for example, abit b31 not in use is used as the CLR flag.

[0073] Meanwhile, defect management information for recording real timedata can be roughly divided into three cases in which: (1) real timedata is not recorded on the entire disc; (2) two types of data, i.e.,real time data and non-real time data, coexist on a disc, and a linearreplacement defect managing method is not used with respect to only thereal time data; and (3) only the real time data is recorded in theentire disc, i.e., the linear replacement defect managing method is notused with respect to all the recorded data.

[0074] Particularly, in the third case, real time replacement is notused for the entire disc, so that a spare area for defect management canbe set to a smaller size than in the first and second cases. This willbe described in detail later referring to FIGS. 12 and 13.

[0075] When these three or more defect managing methods are applied toone disc, various correspondences are possible according to the purposeof use of a disc, and the disc can be more effectively used. However,considering a condition such as the case of changing and using discsbetween reproduction apparatuses, the defect management conditions inwhich a corresponding disc is used must be described in more detail.1-bit disc defect management mode information representing use ornon-use of linear replacement described in FIGS. 8A and 8B is deficientfor defect management information in the above case.

[0076] Thus, as shown in FIG. 11, defect management mode informationcapable of representing linear replacement or non-linear replacementdepending on a plurality of different defect management modes is storedin a reserved byte located in the DDS of the defect management area(DMA) on a disc. That is, FIG. 11 shows the case of using twosignificant bits b7 and b6 of the relative byte position BP10 of DDS,i.e., the eleventh byte thereof, by determining a defect management (DM)mode depending on use or non-use of linear replacement as an example.

[0077] As shown in FIG. 11, when the DM mode information is “00b”, itindicates that the slipping replacement and the linear replacement areapplied to all the data recorded in a user data area on a disc, when theDM mode information is “01 b”, it indicates that the linear replacementis selectively applied according to the type of information (here, realtime data and non-real time data), and when the DM mode information is“10b”, it indicates that the linear replacement is not used with respectto all the data in the user data area.

[0078] That is, when the DM mode information is “00b”, the slippingreplacement and the linear replacement are mandatory, and this mode isonly for data other than real time data in the first case describedabove. When the DM mode information is “01 b”, the linear replacement ismandatory, but the linear replacement for real time data is optional.This mode is defect management for a hybrid disc including both realtime data and non-real time data in the second case described above.When the DM mode information is “10b”, only the slipping replacement isallowable, and this mode is defect management for only real data in thethird case described above. When the DM mode information is “l Ob”, thephysical layout of a disc can be changed.

[0079] Meanwhile, since linear replacement cannot be used to record realtime data, a spare area necessary for linear replacement does notactually become necessary. For this case, in the present invention, onlya spare area for slipping replacement is set in the last group withoutallocating a spare area for linear replacement as shown in FIG. 12. Inparticular, the spare area set in the last group (here, a thirty fourthgroup) allocates 7680 sectors (480 ECC blocks) to a spare area forslipping replacement to process a maximum of 7679 entries capable ofbeing registered in a primary defect list (PDL). In FIG. 12, “sect”denotes a sector, “bik” denotes block, and “rev” denotes revolutions.

[0080] In order to obtain the compatibility between the presentinvention and an existing defect management structure, a flag, capableof discriminating a case in which spare areas for only slippingreplacement are allocated only for real time recording from a case inwhich spare areas for linear replacement and slipping replacement areallocated according to an existing defect management method, isrepresented with significant bits b7 and b6 of the relative byteposition BP 10 in the DDS and the PDL, as shown in FIG. 13.

[0081] As shown in FIG. 13, when two significant bits b7 and b6representing a DM mode on the byte position BP 10 of the DDS/PDL are“00b”, it indicates that an existing defect managing method is applied,and when the two significant bits b7 and b6 are “10b”, a defect managingmethod for only real time recording without linear replacement, in whichonly the spare area for slipping replacement is allocated in the lastgroup of a disc, is applied. Thus, spare areas are allocated by a methoddedicated for real time recording, thereby increasing the efficiency dueto the application of the space of a disc.

[0082] As described above, while compatibility between a method of thepresent invention and a defect managing method based on the currentDVD-RAM standard is maintained, linear replacement is not performed whenreal time data is recorded. Thus, real time data can be recorded andreproduced.

[0083] In the present invention, information representing a plurality ofdifferent defect management modes depending on the type of data to berecorded is stored, so that various correspondences are possibleaccording to the purpose of use of the recording medium. Thus, therecording medium can be more effectively used.

[0084] Also, in the present invention, when real time data is recorded,a spare area for linear replacement is not used for real time data.Also, only the real time data is recorded in the entire disc and thespare area is allocated to be used for only slipping replacement. Thus,the effectiveness due to the application of the space of a disc can beincreased.

What is claimed is:
 1. A defect managing method for a recording medium,comprising: recording and/or reproducing information indicating whethera particular one of the defective units of the recording medium is to bereplaced or left unreplaced by a designated replacement unit;determining whether a defective unit, of the plurality of defectiveunits, is to be replaced or left unreplaced according to the informationrepresenting replacement or non-replacement of the defective unit. 2.The defect managing method as claimed in claim 1, wherein theinformation representing replacement or non-replacement indicates aplurality of defect management modes and is recorded in a reserved areaof a disc definition structure (DDS) of the recording medium.
 3. Thedefect managing method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the recordedinformation further includes a start sector number of the defectiveblock and a start sector number of a replacement unit in a secondarydefect list (SDL) of the recording medium.
 4. The defect managing methodas claimed in claim 1, wherein the recording of the information furthercomprises leaving only a start sector number of the defective unit in asecondary defect list (SDL) of the recording medium, storing informationrepresenting that the defective unit has not been replaced in a ForcedRe-Assignment Marking (FRM) bit of the SDL indicating whether thedefective unit has been replaced, and storing information representingthat the defective unit has not been replaced in a start sector numberof a corresponding replacement unit in the SDL.
 5. The defect managingmethod as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information representingreplacement and/or non-replacement of the defective unit includespositions of the defective unit and a corresponding replacement block.